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Megan’s 28 Sassy Mama Life Hacks

Posted on 05 April, 2015 | By Megan

Post Category - Family LifeFamily Life

Post Category - Family LifeFamily Life

There’s just got to be an easier ways to do things mama, especially when you’re juggling a family and everything else! We’ve found some shortcuts that’ll make life hopefully a little simpler, whether you’re tearing your hair out over ways to manage the kiddos or just sorting your errands. Check them out below!

1. Use lego figurines as cord holders. Such a cute idea for a kids room!

2. Grab a sound machine, they’re totally worth it. You can still go on with your lives in the house without worrying that you’ll disturb your tot with too much racket.

3. Are you a nail biter? (I am too…) Go for a hard gel nail treatment to give your nails a bit of time to grow.

4. Want a chilled glass of wine, but don’t want to water it down with ice cubes? Simply freeze some grapes and pop them into your drink. (Psst, it works for grape juice as well!)

5. Want to watch a video/use a service that isn’t available in your country? (Ahem, certain video streaming services that begin with an N and end with a -flix?) Download the free Google Chrome plugin Hola – it’ll let you choose where websites think you’re coming from.

6. DIY a button snake out of felt, some stretchy ribbon and a button to help develop the kids fine motor skills. Don’t be afraid to get creative with the shapes as well, we’ve seen animal shapes, hearts, diamonds…

7. So cleaning the microwave is a pretty grim task, but if you microwave a bowl of water for a couple of minutes, it’ll moisten everything and make cleanup a lot easier.

8. Don’t bother taking the kids along for shoe shopping, simple trace the outline of their foot on a piece of paper and use that as a guide.

9. Packing for a holiday? Roll up your clothes rather than fold them to save space in your suitcase.

10. Does your daughter have a spaghetti strap top that’s just a little too long? Use a pretty hairclip to fasten them in a cross section in the back, people will think it’s a gorgeous part of the design.

11. Food getting dry and nasty when you microwave it? Stick a glass of water in with it, it’ll help keep the moisture.

12. If your baby’s having a tough time teething, freeze a pacifier in an ice cube tray full of milk, juice, water or formula to help soothe their aching gums.

13. It’s difficult keeping the wooden furniture in good nick with children round the house, but if you take a couple of walnuts and rub it over the marks, it’ll neaten them up straightaway. Ta-da!

14. Say bye bye to fiddly egg shell peeling: just add a dash of baking soda to the water you boil your eggs in and they’ll come off like a dream.

15. This is how to make the best ice cream sandwich in the world. You’re welcome.

16. WEEDS. The bane of every avid gardener’s existence. Lay a sheet of cardboard or newspaper under a layer of mulch to keep them from overtaking your greens.

17. If your shoes are looking a bit scuffed and battered, use a bit of Vaseline and a Q-tip to neaten them up.

18. Heading off to the beach? Clean out an old tanning lotion bottle and stick your valuables inside it – nobody’s going to want to steal it.

19. Don’t remember how fresh your eggs are? Stick them in a cup of water – if they float, then get rid of that bad boy.

22. You know the frustrating part of squeezing lemons, when you’re literally crushing your fingers together and your hand is cramping and juice is flying everywhere and it’s just absolute chaos? (Yeah, we may have run into this problem a few times.) Roll a lemon or orange against the counter a few times, it’ll break up the juice cells a little bit and make extracting the juice easier.

23. Want to save money on pretty hair clips? Simply clip bobby pins to a piece of paper and paint the tops with nail polish.

24. Got a tot who’s finding it difficult to focus on their homework? Replace their computer chair with an exercise ball, we don’t know why but it totally works! It definitely works for our Partnerships executive Aydee over in Hong Kong. (We love you really, Aydee!)

25. Get a car charger for your phone or pick up a portable power bank you can clip to your keys. Nothing’s worse than running out of juice on the go!

26. Before grilling a fish, lay down a bed of lemon slices first. That way the fish won’t do that annoying thing where it sticks to literally every single metal bar and makes clean up an absolute nightmare – plus, it gets that fresh citrusy taste.

27. Jazz up your Ikea Kallax bookshelf with a lick of neon paint here and there.

28. There were ten in the bed and the little one said… keep your kiddo from rolling out of bed by sticking a pool noodle under the edge of the mattress cover!

Megan is an aspiring superheroine, avid wanderluster and now an editorial assistant at Sassy Mama Dubai. She graduated from the University of Warwick’s Creative Writing programme and is somehow still obsessed with words after reassembling them over her degree. She writes about everything she sees: food, fashion, beauty, poetry… Who said bloggers need niches?